News for August 2, 1998

Marco Pantani to Mapei and the Vuelta

It has just been announced on Belgium TV that Marco Pantani will sign
with Mapei next year. He has also said that he will now try to win the
Vuelta this year. He told an Italian newspaper that if he wins the Tour
de France (which he now seems likely to achieve) he will then aim to win
the Tour of Spain.

The drugs scandal update

- It is now alleged that Gilles Bouvard (Casino) obtained drugs
prior to Luik-Bastenaken-Luik from somebody on his own team. No names
will be mentioned. Vice-attorney of the Court in Lille, Vinsonneau,
announced this late on Friday. Vinsonneau said: "Massi is charged now, and the
Casino team doctor is being investigated. Further, the interrogation
of Alex Zulle gave us the possibility to investigate ONCE, and this in
turn led us to the ex-Festina riders, Gilles Bouvard and Magnien."
So the birds have been singing.

-Rodolfo Massi, now the first to be formally charged has been released under
harsh conditions. He is not allowed to have any contact with the cycling
community which means he is denied his profession. He cannot ride. He has
to stay at an address in France and within a month be accessible for the
judiciary.

- Jeroen Blijlevens didn't quite make it to free soil unscathed. When he
landed in Brussels he was detained because he did not have his passport. He
had to stay at Zaventem until his girlfriend returned with his passport.
The riders flew from Zurich but their luggage went by car. The passport
was with his clothes in the car.

Le Monde - The Broken Legend

The leading French daily, published a lead-in to an 8-page special
on the Tour in the wake of the drugs scandal.

The said: After three weeks of road, more marked drugs business
and the legal consequences than by the exploits of the rider, the
Tour de France now comes into the capital to the Champs-Elysées.
On Friday, the former holder of the KOM jersey, Italian Rodolfo
Massi (Casino), was charged with "inciting and facilitating the
use of doping substances " and "importing, selling and transferring
poisonous substances". It is a first in the history of the Tour de
France, soon to be in its 100th year. The rider was freed under bail
by the court in Lille.

... Cycling is not the only sport troubled by drugs, but given the
last 3 weeks, it will be hard to repair its image. It is now
clear that there is organised and systematic doping of riders by
teams. Le Monde asks: "How can we believe (the Tour) can start up
again in 1999 as if nothing had happened?

Le Monde is highly critical of the riders, reflecting its right-wing
ideology. It doesn't for one minute think about the pressures that
the capitalist sponsors put on riders who are still largely from
working class backgrounds. It doesn't see that this is a worker-capital
issue. Instead it blames the riders who are seen as breaking the
rules of the sport, and the laws of the land. Who appear to be
resentful of legal intervention by police into their criminal
activities and their contempt for the traditions of the sport (viz..
the strike on Wednesday).

The Society of the Tour de France now has an image problem to address
in addition to the normal organisation for next year. The Tour director
Jean-Marie Leblanc told the press today that there will be major changes.
They will complement the decision by the UCI to introduce compulsory
medical check from January 1.

French National Track Championships

While the Tour de France has been in crisis, the French National Championships
have been quietly going about their business in anonymity. The track riders
did not however miss out on being questioned by the press about whether
they were also using drugs to improve their sporting performance.
But, they do not seem to be overly concerned by any sudden police
attention.

Yves Perpignan, who has spent more than half of his 62-years
in the world of track racing said to the press: "We test the first three
in each event, which adds up to 78 tests in 6 days. The controls are
extremely rigorous and have always been so."

An international police chief is hired to supervise the testing at Hyères.

1996 Olympic champion, Florian Rousseau, has had repeated phone calls
from the press to his home during the last week. He said the press
has followed him to Hyères and that he had had enough and would not
comment any further.

But 1996 Olympic champion, Felicia Ballanger and 1997 World Pursuit Champion
Philippe Ermenault were more forthcoming. Ballanger told the press:
"When I saw what occurred on the beginning of the Tour de France, I said myself
that it was about time it came out into the open. Not being there makes it
difficult to comment specifically. But it is time that something is done about
it. I was also worried by the attitude of the public who seemed to turn a
blind eye to the fact that the riders they applaud are cheats.
In track cycling, I cannot measure the extent that drugs are being used.
although I know that there is doping going on. I might be naive. Once,
I was asked by a team manager to see a guy who he said would help me.
He was a dealer in a gymnasium and he offered banned drugs to me. I
refused. It was, however, the only time drugs have ever been offered to me."

Magali Humbert-Faure, 4th in the World sprint Championships in 1997,
thinks there is a difference between road cycling and track cycling.

This is a point that Philippe Ermenault agrees with. He told the press that:
"Everyone knows that high performance are not made with water.... But,
from there to take prohibited products, there is a margin.

National French coach Gerard Quintyn stated that the margin is wide because
there is very little gain for a track rider in taking EPO. He told the
press: "Only steroids could be useful... But they are detectable by
the controls in force. I stand as guarantor that all my riders are clean."